If only I could briddle my tongue

In my journey into spiritual maturity, I have been blessed by many sermons on the power of the tongue. I have also noted in my life that the more I grow in faith, the less I engage in conversations that do not lift people up. I still feel though, that sometimes I talk too much!

A while ago, I was reading a book by #DrDavidYonggiCho titled ‘Ministering Hope for 50 Years’ (I would recommend this for all spiritual leaders – amazing testimonies of God’s unfailing support when He has given you work to do).

In the book, Dr Cho related a conversation he had with a renowned neurosurgeon; this man told him that research have found that the speech area nerve controls all other nerves in the brain. Basically when you speak, you send a command to other nerves and they then activate it. As an example, if you say; ‘ I'm gradually getting weaker’, other nerves receive the message from the speech nerve and obey it – telling others to ‘lets get weak, we need to get weak.’ If you say, ‘I am healthy’, the message gets transmitted and process the command.

Of course what this neurosurgeon found out from research is not new; it had already been said thousands of years ago by the Master Creator (James 3:1-6). In fact we are told in verse 2; ‘….for if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.’ And ….’those who control their tongue will have long life’, (Proverbs 13:3).

As believers, we understand the power of confession – it activates and deepens our faith. Isn’t God wonderful? He has put in us, the design of our organs to work with our faith to bring into reality what we confess.

We use our tongue to decree positively and negatively; to bless and curse. We can use the power of the tongue for good or for evil, to bless each other and to turn around bad situations in life.

Let’s be quick to bless and slow to curse. It can be disheartening to read what believers’ write on our social media platforms. Most times people are quick to curse leaders – ‘….those who have been made in the image of God,’ (James 3:9). When I read such, I ask myself; do you curse the person or the spirit behind the person’s act? Should we appropriate the power of our tongue to rebuke evil spirits that enables a person to live an ungodly, immoral and corrupt life? How do we, as children of light, use our power of the tongue without committing sin ourselves? We must remember it is okay to be angry but we must not sin in our anger. When a child does something really stupid, you don’t tell that child, ‘You stupid child’ rather you tell they child what s/he did was stupid. The power of the tongue!

Let the Holy Spirit guide what we say in all things. A quiet person is not a fool, those who are wise follow the leading of the Spirit; in what to say, when to say and how to say.

Are you struggling with taming your tongue? Consciously pause and think about what you want to say, why you must say it and the best way of saying it. What is the intention behind your words? Pray and confess the following;

Almighty God, thank you for the gift of the tongue; I thank you that I’m able to talk, I’m able to use my tongue to praise you and testify of your goodness. Give me the grace to think before I talk. Let the Holy Spirit direct my speech to the glory of your name.

I confess that my tongue will be a channel of blessing and a vessel unto honour.  I appropriate my authority in Jesus over all sinful speech in the name of Jesus. Amen

If this article has blessed you, I would love to hear your testimony so that we may together continue to offer praise and thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father. Leave a comment or send me an email; adeola@we-can-leadershipinstitute.com

 SHALOM

Adeola Akintoye